


All aboard!

by DreamMedic



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2015-11-16
Packaged: 2018-05-01 23:24:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5225066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamMedic/pseuds/DreamMedic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose and the doctor embark on a cruise that turns out to be completely out of this world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All aboard!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fan fiction. Ever.  
> I debated posting it for the longest time, and decided I would upload the first chapter and see what you all thought of it. If you want to continue it, I will. Please feel free to comment and kudo, if you will. They are appreciated but not necessary!  
> Thank you so much!  
> Enjoy!

Left off with her mother for the weekend (at her own request and, she suspected – although she’d left an open invitation – alone), Rose Tyler had expected a quiet one; as quiet as a weekend with Jackie Tyler could be, at any rate. And it was, for the most part. Mickey came over for a movie; Jackie made them a terrible Sunday dinner; they all pretended to like it. Rose was still coming down from the gas mask child and Jack and dancing, and it was nice. It really was. She expected to meet the Doctor the next Monday rested, refreshed, and ready to go!  
However, when she finally did hear the TARDIS engines, she ran down the stairs empty handed. No bag. She hadn’t even laced her trainers, properly. After the incident with Jack and the empty children, the doctor decided to take a week to clear everything up. Just as a precaution- just to make sure nothing was affected by their unexpected interlude with the cocky time agent. Of course, what was a full six days at the very least for him, amounted to about two days, in Rose's time.  
****  
After the incident with Jack and the empty children, the doctor decided to take a week to clear everything up. Just as a precaution- just to make sure nothing was affected by their unexpected interlude with the cocky time agent. Of course, what was a full six days at the very least for him, amounted to about two days, in Rose's time.  
He finished up checking over things as usual, and headed back to pick up Rose. As the TARDIS came to a shuddering stop, he smiled and pulled his leather jacket back on as he stepped outside, however something was very very wrong. As he looked around, he didn't see the familiar cluttered busy streets and whizzing cars rushing about. All he saw was a single, dusty old rotten looking shed. He looked about confused as ever before returning to the console to check his data. It read "June 21st, 1705."  
"Oh, well that is a bit problematic..." he muttered to himself as he reset the dials 300 years forward. Once again, the TARDIS came to an abrupt landing and he stood in the door frame, waiting for Rose to find her way out. As she came into view he laughed softly to himself and then sighed.  
"Why is it that everytime I come and get you, you always look so unprepared? I always come at the scheduled time!"He liked joking with Rose. It had been so very very long since he had felt human, and being in her company granted him that luxury.  
****  
Rose trotted the last few paces, flopping against the TARDIS, beside him. "Hello to you, too," she chirped, used to his scolding. She reached around him to pull the door closed, though, with a waggle of her brows. "Shift. Come upstairs for a minute," she begged, catching his arm before he could bolt. "It's just, there's something strange happening down at the shops. One of them tourist companies, and Micks and I, we've got a bet going between us. I really think you should take a look!" she finished, rocking up onto her toes in excitement. He dragged slightly at first behind her as she tugged him along. He couldn't help but laugh at how excited she got when she had the feeling something was wrong. Apparently he was rubbing off on her.  
"Alright alright! Just for a minute... we have things to do!" He followed her inside without much protest. Rose let him into the apartment with a small knot of nerves he probably wouldn’t notice. She locked the door behind them – habit – and led him into the living room where newspaper clippings had overtaken the table. She moved Mickey’s envelope to the chair so there was space for the Doctor to sit on the couch. “Yeah?” she grinned, waving an arm around at the mess as if it were an accomplishment. “Been working on it all weekend!” She left him there and bustled into the kitchen to take the kettle off the stove. She took out two mugs and watched him from the pass-through. "Whatcha think?" she grinned, obviously expecting much as she dropped the tea bags in.  
"Well blimey how long was I gone?" He asked playfully as he looked at the pile of clippings. The doctor widened his eyes in surprise. He was slightly shocked, to say the least. He really WAS rubbing off on her. "How is Ricky anyways?" he asked as He leafed through the clippings not really sure what he was looking at, but trying to make sense of it. "And what exactly is it that has been going on?" He watched her from his cleared spot among the messy flat. Same old Rose, though he didn't blame her. He was the same way. Live in the moment. too busy to worry about something as pointless as housework.  
“Mickey,” she began, an emphasis on the name, “has been putting this together for a couple of weeks, now, he and Mum. They were going to turn it all in to the police but I was looking over it, yeah? People been disappearing. They just swan off on their vacation and never come home. Happened to my mum’s friend and she never would have done. She has two kids. Gone off to university, now, but still. It’s just off.” She brought the cups in, setting his down on a cleared spot before perching on the arm of the couch. “I don’t think they’re wrong, see, but – I dunno, something about their brochures.” She stood, ever careful with her tea, and dug it out. She handed it to the Doctor and opened the brochure to the inner page, pointing. “Doesn’t that look like an observation platform? Says there it’s their cruise line, and I can’t tell Tahiti from…” She floundered, and offered a shrug and a made-up planet. “Tahiti 4, but that,” she ran her finger around the edge of the picture, framed by what one could assume was the window from the ship – waterbound or otherwise. “It looks like the window from that observation ship, doesn’t it?” Not something she’d soon forget, that. Lousy first date.  
The doctor listened keenly, finding himself very interested in all of this. "Yes.. that does look like an observation platform. Not a proper one, obviously, but that structure... it's classic platform one architecture... " He continued looking through the information, and then hopped to his feet. "Well then! Rose Tyler! Let's get a move on downtown! I think I fancy a cruise." He smiled as he grabbed her hand and ran towards the TARDIS.

 

December 27, 2013 10:29 pm

Rose laughed, happy to follow. She did take a minute to grab her bag – prepared ahead of schedule, thank you much! – but they were back in the TARDIS in no time. She tossed her bag onto the jumpseat and slid up to the console, going around once with a smile up at the time rotor. “Cruise sounds lovely,” she agreed! “Bit of rest and relaxation! Oh, sunbathing,” she added, a wistful afterthought. She gave up on the idea almost as soon as she gave voice to it. Looking at him, she even let loose a bit of a laugh.  
Not likely.  
"Oh no no no if you wanted to go SUNBATHING," he replied a bit of a cheeky smirk on his face. "You would do well to go to a planet in the sixth sector. Nice little place called Midnight. Lovely little tourist spot, they have a sapphire waterfall."  
He kept to the controls, parking the classic blue box neatly on the street corner about a block away from the tourist shop. "When we get this mess sorted out, maybe we can stop off on the way to Barcelona." Rose looked up at him in surprise which soon melted into pleasure. "Love to! Next time, and don't you think I won't hold you to it," she added, lightly, before skipping down to the doors. She pulled them open and filed out, waiting for him on the sidewalk.  
He grabbed the key and locked up the TARDIS behind him, flinging it carelessly into his inside jacket pocket, safe and sound. He thought Rose deserved a nice weekend and Midnight was a good place to catch a few rays. While he wasn't much for the spas and the pampering, there was a tour he was excited to take through the diamond ridge path.  
Following Rose out onto the sidewalk he squinted in the sunlight looking up at a tall building not far away. "Ridge Brook Travel Agency, eh?" He read the sign aloud, mostly to himself. He found himself doing that a lot. Talking, without any real point. Talking to himself, talking to the TARDIS, supposed it was the only way to keep himself from going mad. 

"Right then, let's get ourselves on that ship." They headed towards the boarding terminal and were stopped by a guard near the exit platform. He had expected that, and already was focused on the psychic paper, holding it in front of the man's face for a second. "Two round trip tickets there. Nothing to fret about" He said with a smile.  
Well, they were only to be loaded onto a bus at the moment, which would (presumably) cart them down to the docks. The man checking their tickets gave them both a frown before he looked the psychic paper over. "Oh!" he said, smiling up at the Doctor. "Well, good for you, Sir. I had entirely the wrong idea. I hope you enjoy your trip. I brought my own daughter just last year, and she hasn't stopped talking about it since!" Rose pursed her lips, tightly, her face a bit red with the effort of holding back laughter. "Yeah, can't wait. Come on, Pops!" she wheezed, hauling the leather-clad alien up onto the bus before he could bite the ticket man's head right off!  
The doctor widened his eyes in surprise and gave the man a sort of ‘Excuse me?’ look. He was about to go off about it, but he felt Rose tugging him away.  
"Sorry...Pops?!" He said giving her a strange look. He knew this regeneration wasn't too terribly young, but he didn't look that old! Did he? Regeneration is a dodgy process, and he knew that, but POPS? REALLY? He sank back a bit into his own childish pout as he followed Rose, seeing her bright red face as she held back the laughter.  
They had made it just in time. They were the last passengers to board the bus. Once they were safely past the ticket master, Rose found the first available pair of chairs and slid into the window seat. She collapsed into her chair, leaning forward, folded over her knees. She had to cover her face with her hands, shoulders shaking with hilarity. She realized he'd be settling into a mood so Rose reached out, catching the Doctor's jacket so that she could pull him into the seat beside her. Once he landed, Rose had to drop her face onto the man's shoulder, breathing deeply, before she even had a small semblance of control.  
She looked up at him and started to say something soothing but, honestly! That face! "Oh, look at you!" she purred, petting his arm for want of better words. She was about to go on, but she let out a great yawn, instead, covering her mouth with the back of her hand in surprise.  
"Can you believe him?" she asked, snuggling into her chair, comfortably. "Thought I was your daughter," she mumbled, sinking further into her chair. For just one moment, she seemed confused. She looked up at the Doctor, a question -and worry- in her eyes, but then her head dropped onto his shoulder and she was asleep, with a soft sigh.  
Under normal circumstances, it might have been endearing. As it was, she'd gone from bright eyed and bushy tailed to deeply asleep in a matter of a few seconds. Something was wrong. Unfortunately, the Doctor was breathing the same scentless gas she was. Superior biology wouldn't do him any good, at the moment (though he probably would wake up much sooner than the other passengers). Oh, he'd have a few extra seconds, perhaps, but he'd be joining his companion in sleep, and soon.  
The bus driver didn't seem to be affected at all and went about the business of closing doors and starting engines. Multiple engines. Red flag number one.  
****  
The doctor smiled as she leaned against him but it quickly faded when he realized just how out she had gone in those few seconds. Something was very very wrong here and he could feel it. He took a quick look around the rest of the bus and noted that he seemed to be the only conscious one.. apart from the driver of course. He leaned forward keen to find out what was causing this but he too felt his body succumbing to the neuro toxic atmosphere enveloping the space around him. before he knew it, it was lights out for both him and his companion.  
He lifted his head suddenly startling awake. His vision was clouded and blurred as he looked around at his surroundings. This was strange... he wasn't on the bus anymore. Or was he? He couldn't tell as the environment around him blurred and went out of focus. He tried his best to wake Rose while he clung to what little use of his senses he had, but he soon found himself out once again, still clutching the slender blonde's arm in his hand.  
Rose didn't even stir when he jostled her, which might bother the Doctor. None of the humans would, though. He'd probably rouse more than once, during the journey, but no one woke up until the tour guides wanted them to and that was not until they reached their destination. The waking up of the passengers was routine for them, by now. The Ticketmaster stood at the front of the bus, talking about the sights to see and how to claim their baggage and where they could find entertainment on their cruise, and while the gas was evacuated and fresh air pumped in (and now his Time Lord body would give him a significant advantage of time - a much shorter recovery!), the humans would shift and come awake slowly, and shake their partners awake beside them, teasing them for having fallen asleep. They would sit, and listen, while the Ticketmaster went on, looking out the window into the harbor where their cruise ship waited. The humans were largely none-the-wiser.  
And who could blame them, really; why would anyone suspect themselves of falling victim to aliens who gassed them, then kidnapped them across solar systems, and then deposited them on an alien planet? No, of course the humans simply assumed they'd dozed off on their way to their cruise.  
The Timelord may or may not recognize the planet they were now on, but he would certainly be able to sense that days had passed. The bus must have been very special - or the driver or the Ticketmaster must have tended to the passengers while they slept - because everyone was clean and healthy as they shuffled around in their bags, preparing for departure.

He was slow to wake as the attendants came over the comms announcing the arrival of their destination. He looked to his right to find Rose still sound asleep. He gently squeezed her arm as he whispered to her. "Rose? Rose I need you to wake up and listen to me very carefully... Rose?"  
Rose shifted, making her eyes open. She nodded, rubbing her face, trying to focus. "Mmm, sorry," she mumbled, sitting upright. "Fell asleep..." Her head started to drop back down to his shoulder but she shook it, sitting up again. She looked up at the Doctor, blearily, noticing the strain in his eyes. She looked around, finding nothing out of place on her own, and turned back to him, straightening in her seat.She was still drowsy and it showed in everything she did, but she was paying attention. "Yeah?"  
"Listen, you didn't just fall asleep... something here is very very wrong I can feel it." He look around them to ensure that nothing was out of order. "You need to stay with me at all times, understand? We are just going to go about this normally, and then when we get on the cruise we will poke around." He was firm in his words, even as he said them in a whispered monotone. "I think we have been drugged..."  
"Consider me glued," she replied, bemused. She looked out the window of the bus, and then around at her fellow passengers. If the Doctor had not said anything, she wouldn't have worried about a thing. She still couldn't tell that there was anything strange! A small part of her was now wishing they'd brought the TARDIS. The rest of her was already bubbling excitement. "Hang on," she whispered, leaning into him to be heard. "We've just been kidnapped?"  
"I don't know.. something is going on here. And we will find out what... You said people were going missing, but if we were being kidnapped, this number of people being taken all at once would raise more than a few suspicions, so I don't think so..."  
Rose looked around at the others, now, a little grin playing on her face. She was watching the ticketmaster, now, too, more carefully, trying to find the alien element. Nothing about him or the driver rubbed her wrong - whatever their game was, they played it very well!  
She stood up and scooted around the Doctor as the other passengers filed off. For once, she wiggled her fingers at him. "Come on, then. This is my first cruise!" she said, turning to smile at the lady in front of her, politely.  
"Oh, you'll just adore it, my dear, you really will!" the old lady said, beamishly, before turning her attention back to her own husband. "Lovely couple," she mumbled, as everyone was filing off the bus. The doctor stood and smiled at her. Even as he was worried about what exactly was going on here, Rose Tyler never failed to make him smile. Even if just a little. He filed off with her, scanning the front of the bus with his screwdriver unnoticed as they moved through the open doors. He took a quick reading with his sonic as they shuffled along the platform. "High levels of cytro polylithic dust residue..." He said to Rose as he tucked the probe back into his inner jacket pocket.  
Rose nodded politely, even though she secretly rolled her eyes at him. As if she knew the difference between cytolytic dust and the regular kind. She was about to ask him about it, but as their line of bus passengers walked down the path and turned the corner round one of the several buildings (warehouses, probably, through a simple scan of the Doctor's sonic would reveal that they were only holographic displays). Even knowing that there was something strange happening, Rose couldn't contain her excitement when she saw the cruise ship. It was massive! As big as the Titanic and just as gorgeous.  
The Ticketmaster was still talking, urging them all to please stay in line and have their tickets ready. He smiled at them, happily, and guided them all to the gang plank, where they were to board the ship. As everyone filed on, he had a word of well-wishes for everyone. He smiled even at the gruff man and his sweet daughter. "Enjoy your trip!" he said, lightly, handing them the same brochure everyone else received. "Try to let her have *some* fun, eh, Dad?" He laughed at his own, clever joke and turned his attention to the couple behind them.  
The doctor groaned to himself quietly as the man walked away and flipped through the brochure. "You don't even LOOK like me... Honestly some people...." He shook his head and continued going through the information they had handed him. The brochure was fairly typical: floor maps, keys and directions to their room, show schedules, and food menus.  
****  
Rose turned back to the ticket man, pulling a face at him, before she leaned into the Doctor to look at the brochure as well. She peeked up at her broody alien, all pouts and grumping at the moment, and found herself keen to drag it out before he caught her - she didn't mind him whining, not really. "No? You don't think our noses? Little bit around the mouth?"  
He gave a slight smile and a single chuckle. "Well, thank god you don't have my ears." He folded the map and placed it back into his jacket pocket. He always liked it when they threw in a map. Made life a lot easier when he was scrambling to save everyone. "Something is off about this place..." He said looking around at the sky and out towards the water."We’re definitely not on earth anymore." He finally said after a while of silence.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fan fiction. Ever.  
> I debated posting it for the longest time, and decided I would upload the first chapter and see what you all thought of it. If you want to continue it, I will. Please feel free to comment and kudo, if you will. They are appreciated but not necessary!  
> Thank you so much!  
> Enjoy!


End file.
